Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Hearing reset for man wanted for questioning in Dobson shooting

Zaevion Dobson, 15-year-old Fulton High School student fatally shot on Dec. 17, 2015, in the 2700 block of Badgett Drive. (FULTON HIGH SCHOOL)

KNOXVILLE — A preliminary hearing for a man wanted for questioning in the December shooting death of Fulton High School football player Zaevion Dobson was reset Thursday to May 4.

Assistant District attorney Phil Morton Knox County General Sessions Judge Geoffrey P. Emery that Colbert's attorney needed to reset because of an illness.

Kipling Deshawn Colbert Jr., 20, turned himself in after being involved in a hit-and-run crash near the Old City and a police pursuit that followed earlier this month, police said.

He was charged with evading arrest, as well as for failure to appear on earlier charges of violation of a drug free school zone and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He has not been charged in Dobson's death.

Colbert was a passenger in a 2000 Honda Civic with two other occupants when the Knoxville Police Department's Major Crimes and Organized Crimes unites attempted to stop the car.

Police first spotted Colbert in the car about 8 p.m. on April 4 as it was parked near the corner of Badgett Drive and California Road in Lonsdale Homes — a few blocks from the scene of Dobson's killing Dec. 17, according to arrest warrants.

Officers followed the vehicle and attempted to stop the car on Interstate 275 at Baxter Avenue when the driver sped away.

The car continued east onto Summit Hill Drive, where it collided with another vehicle at the corner of South Central Street without stopping, according to the warrants. The car continued east on Summit Hill, running several red lights and stop signs before the trio abandoned the car near Morningside Park and ran into the park.

The driver, Richard Gregory Williams III, and passenger Daryl Franklin Sligh, both 21, were captured by police in the park. Colbert surrendered at KPD headquarters a short time later.

Williams was charged with felony evading arrest, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, driving on a suspended license and failure to appear on a previous weapons possession charge.

He was also charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder in a shooting of a 19-year-old man on April 2. According to the arrest warrant, Williams approached Larry North and a 2-year-old whom North was walking hand-in-hand with on Lula Powell Drive as they approached the parking lot and fired several shots at them.

North was shot eight times, but his injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Sligh was charged with violation of probation on previous convictions for robbery and drug and weapons possession, as well as on a new charge of evading arrest.

Police said additional charges are pending.

Police had sought Colbert for questioning since the shooting of Dobson, 15, who died as he shielded two friends from gunfire in Lonsdale Homes. The shooting was one of four attacks beginning Dec. 17 and extending into the early hours of Dec. 18.

Christopher Bassett, 20, who was arrested the morning after the shooting on a weapons charge, told police he was among gang members who sprayed bullets at the house where Dobson and his friends were gathered, court records show. Bassett is now serving a two-year sentence for a May 2014 arrest for possessing a stolen gun.

Police say Bassett was with three others, including Brandon Perry, 23, when they went to Lonsdale Homes late on Dec. 17. Perry was killed hours later in a separate shooting.

The four were upset after Perry's mother, Lisa, had been shot earlier in the night, police said.

Police have said neither Dobson nor his friends had any gang affiliations and that they were mistakenly targeted in an attempted retaliation for the earlier incident.

Dobson's heroic actions have drawn praise from President Barack Obama, who first tweeted about Dobson's sacrifice and later cited the case in a speech on gun control. CBS Sports aired a 7-minute pretaped segment on Dobson during the pregame Super Bowl broadcast.

Knoxville City Council earlier this year passed a resolution honoring Dobson's memory, and Knox County Commission passed a resolution declaring Jan. 24 to be "Zaevion Dobson Day."

The Tennessee Senate is set to vote Thursday on a resolution honoring Dobson. The state House approved the resolution on April 7.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.

Read or Share this story: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2016/04/14/hearing-reset-for-man-wanted-for-questioning-in-dobson-shooting/90894898/